PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Department of Public Safety has never accepted responsibility for falsely arresting a landscaper in shootings five years ago on metro Phoenix’s freeways that terrorized motorists, even after the case was dismissed amid heavy criticism of its ballistic evidence, the landscaper’s attorney said Wednesday at a civil trial over the arrest.

Attorney David Don told jurors at the trial’s opening that Leslie Merritt Jr. has suffered from post-traumatic stress, found it hard to land a job and remains fearful of police as a result of his 2015 arrest and the publicity surrounding it. Even after the charges were dismissed, Don said the Arizona Department of Public Safety still maintained it had evidence showing Merritt was the freeway shooter.

“DPS could not accept the truth of what they had done in this case,” Don said. Merritt, who has steadfastly maintained his innocence and was jailed seven months before his release, is seeking a jury award of more than $2 million.

Authorities say 11 shootings were carried out on metro Phoenix’s freeways in late August and early September 2015. No one was seriously injured when bullets struck eight cars. Three other vehicles were struck with projectiles such as BBs or pellets. The only injury was a 13-year-old girl cut by glass. The shootings sparked so much fear that people avoided driving the freeways, school buses took different routes, and signs were posted telling people to be careful.

Then-Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead had said the shootings were the work of a domestic terrorist, and authorities heightened patrols and surveillance in pursuit of a suspect. Minutes after Merritt was arrested, Gov. Doug Ducey had triumphantly tweeted, “We got him!”

No one else has been arrested in the shootings.

Ed Novak, an attorney defending the Department of Public Safety, told jurors that the arrest was made after the most senior employees at the agency had reviewed the evidence and that the decision to take him into custody was ultimately made by then-Deputy Department of Public Safety Director Heston Silbert, who is now the agency’s director. “He will let you know that when lives are in danger, you make an arrest as soon as possible,” Novak said.

Investigators said Merritt’s handgun was linked to four of the shootings, but an outside forensic firearms examiner said bullets from those shootings couldn’t be “excluded or identified” as having come from Merritt’s gun. The case was dismissed at the request of prosecutors.

This summer, a judge who is not connected to the civil case took the rare step of issuing an order declaring that Merritt had been officially cleared of criminal allegations in the freeway shooting case.

In his lawsuit, Merritt alleged authorities pursued charges even though they knew his handgun was at a pawn shop during the last of the four shootings with which he was charged. He also accused the Department of Public Safety of changing the timeline of the shooting to fit a theory that a bullet from Merritt’s gun got lodged in the sidewall of a tire. The agency has denied both allegations.

Most of Merritt’s legal claims were dismissed in late 2019. But he can still seek damages on his claims of false arrest and false imprisonment for the six-day span between his arrest and indictment.

The judge presiding over Merritt’s lawsuit has said a jury could reasonably conclude police lacked probable cause to detain Merritt during that six-day period. But the judge also ruled Merritt’s subsequent indictment was supported by a presumption of probable cause.

Maricopa County paid Merritt $100,000 in 2018 to settle legal claims against then-County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s office, which prosecuted Merritt, officials said.